Thallub, Sharyl Attkisson is a notable exception to what I'm talking about, and the ABC report you linked is another. It says:

Quote:

Phoenix ATF agents recently testified during a Congressional hearing that they knowingly allowed weapons to slip into the hands of straw buyers who would then distribute the weapons to known criminals.

Probably the biggest item on the Horowitz agenda is a long-awaited report on Fast and Furious. That's the flawed gun sting in Arizona, where ATF agents lost track of 2,000 guns. Some later turned up at crime scenes, including the killing of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.

Three White House national security officials were given some details about the operation, dubbed Fast and Furious. The operation allowed firearms to be illegally purchased, with the goal of tracking them to Mexican drug cartels. But the effort went out of control after agents lost track of many of the weapons.

My point is that saying the agents lost track of some guns suggests a different problem, and different solutions, than saying "that they knowingly allowed weapons to slip into the hands of straw buyers who would then distribute the weapons to known criminals."